New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project.
Today’s content
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): President Xi meeting shows Chris Hipkins knows where his bread is buttered (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: China trade – precious and precarious (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Politik): Hipkins bitter sweet day in Beijing (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Stuff): National leader Christopher Luxon says Hipkins maintains ‘balance’ in Beijing meeting
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Chippy Triumphant in China: Did Harmonious Prosperity just trump Wolf Diplomacy? Time to thank Nanaia Mahuta
William Hewett (Newshub): New Zealand media needs to be more careful with questions it asks politicians about sensitive issues like China, expert says
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Chris Hipkins heads to Shanghai after securing extra flights to New Zealand
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): China may need New Zealand more than we realise
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): PM in China: Chris Hipkins speaks after meeting Chinese Premier Li Qiang
Kereama Wright (Mairanga Media): Hipkins emphasises cultural connection as he courts Chinese premier
RNZ: PM Chris Hipkins meets with China’s Premier Li Qiang
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Advocacy group says Chris Hipkins should’ve been tougher with Xi Jinping over China’s treatment of Uighurs
Monique Steel (RNZ): New Zealand business delegation in China strikes deal for red meat sector
Alistair Crozier (Asia Media Centre): On the Ground: China in 2023
Peter Griffin (BusinessDesk): China is worlds away for our tech exporters (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): EU-NZ deal closer to completion despite ‘free trade fatigue’
Bridie Witton (Post): Five Eyes: Ministers meet to talk child exploitation, security threats (paywalled)
KIRI ALLAN
RNZ: Minister Kiri Allan rejects claims of poor staff relationships
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Many will think ‘the wheels are falling off this Government’ after Kiri Allan office concerns, political commentator says
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Political skeleton rattles PM’s Beijing day
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Chris Hipkins tries to sell NZ, but must now keep an eye on the Kiri Allan situation
Luke Malpass (Post): Domestic dramas chase Chris Hipkins to Beijing (paywalled)
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Déjà vu for prime minister abroad as ministerial trouble brews back home
Claire Trevett and Michael Neilson (Herald): PM Chris Hipkins, Minister Kiri Allan respond to ‘concerns’ about Allan’s ministerial office
Andrea Vance (Stuff): DoC boss raised concern about Kiri Allan after staffer quit Minister’s office
Michael Neilson (Herald): Labour Minister Kiri Allan on mental health leave over ‘personal circumstances’
Felix Desmarais (1News): More than one public service head aware of Kiri Allan office issues
RNZ: DOC boss confirms poor relationships in Minister Kiri Allan’s office
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Staffer chose to leave Kiri Allan’s office amid concerns about ‘working relationships’, minister on leave after ‘struggling with mental health’
CORRECTIONS
Felix Desmarais (1News): Scathing report on Corrections says prisoners ‘collateral damage’
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): ‘Disconnection at all levels’: Ombudsman’s scathing review of Corrections
Natalie Akoorie (Open Justice Journalism): Ombudsman calls for fair treatment of prisoners, urgent changes at Corrections
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Chief Ombudsman calls for urgent change at Department of Corrections following investigation
Anna Whyte and Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Rawiri Waititi calls for Corrections transformation after scathing review
Morgan Godfery (Stuff): Do the crime, serve a lifetime
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): National’s appallingly costed Prison Empire and what it will really do
CRIME
RNZ: Fraud and deception crime nearly doubled through 2022 – Crime and Victims Survey
Rob Stock (Stuff): Huge rise in fraud and deception crimes, Crime and Victimisation survey shows
Keiller MacDuff (Post): Huge spike in fraud as public trust in police dips (paywalled)
Raphael Franks (Herald): Cases like Christchurch citizen’s arrest undermine trust in police – association: Survey shows drop
Newstalk ZB: ‘We’re seeing this trend internationally’: Police Commissioner explains declining trust in sector
Stewart Forsyth (Herald): Who is really tough on crime? (paywalled)
Raphael Franks (Herald): Christchurch police tell tradies to let robber go after citizen’s arrest
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Police Association says it shares frustration of Christchurch tradies told to let thief go following citizen’s arrest
HOUSING
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Finance Minister removes house prices from Reserve Bank remit
Gerarden Cann (Stuff): National would scrap Reserve Bank’s sustainable house price requirements
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Hundreds of breaches of Healthy Homes Standards in rentals checked by Government
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Kāinga Ora shelves intensive social housing project after residents’ uproar
Justin Latif (Pacific Media Network): One Māngere housing development, two opposing views
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Plans for huge Havelock North housing development lodged with council
Jonathan Killick (Stuff): Tenant describes life on the inside of Paremoremo’s ‘prison village’
TRANSPORT
Tom Hunt (Post): Stage set for make-or-break Let’s Get Wellington Moving meeting (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Wellington Mayor rejects Let’s Get Wellington Moving compromise on eve of vote
Newshub: Green MP Julie Anne Genter slams National after Christopher Luxon promises to make electric vehicle drivers pay road user charges
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): National would make electric vehicle drivers pay road user charges
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Hybrid utes needed for Horizons action plan on climate change
Liam Dann (Herald): Global oil slump offers some respite as petrol tax comes back (paywalled)
Hanna McCallum (Stuff): ‘Losing the battle’: Drink driving deaths on New Zealand roads double since 2013
William Hewett (Newshub): Automobile Association calls for more alcohol checkpoints after drink driving deaths double over last 10 years
1News: NZ’s deadliest year for drunk drivers in a decade – new data
Bernard Orsman (Herald): National promises to review Michael Wood’s decision to toll Penlink road and look to extend it from two to four lanes
Michael Neilson (Herald): NZTA spends $80m on Dome Valley SH1 road safety project, none on resilience as key Auckland, Whangārei link closed 2 days
Erin Gourley (Post): Auckland-Wellington the ‘perfect route’ for sleeper train, rail conference told (paywalled)
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): Only rail projects with bipartisan support are likely to see the light of day, conference hears (paywalled)
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Electric ferries the $60m winners in Auckland Transport budget
Justin Wong (Post): Brooklyn trial cycle lane proposed to be made permanent (paywalled)
EDUCATION
Amy Wiggins (Herald): Making the Grade: Should schools teach budgeting, driving and civics? (paywalled)
Nicola Gaston (The Conversation): Bailout, Band-Aid or back to basics? 3 questions NZ’s university funding review must ask
ODT Editorial: Band-aid not bailout (paywalled)
RNZ: Uni staff the ‘backbone of this country’, suffering in proposed cuts – union
George Heagney (Manawatū Standard): Staff member fears Massey restructures will devastate university
André Chumko (Post): Government asked to stop ‘unethical’ arts cuts at Victoria University (paywalled)
RNZ: Christopher Luxon criticises slow return of international students
John Gerritsen (RNZ): All New Zealand universities have risen in latest international ranking
Gabrielle McCulloch (Stuff): All eight Kiwi universities climb global rankings
Amy Wiggins (Herald): New Zealand universities climb world ranking table: Auckland University’s ranking highest in 14 years
Karl du Fresne: Licence to indoctrinate
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Propping-up the ivory towers is not the answer
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Do we need to rethink the whole university model?
Denise Piper (Stuff): School’s teachers get risk management training after Abbey Caves death
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, THREE WATERS
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Three Waters cost blowout expected to hit $1 billion in ‘mega-bureaucracy’ (paywalled)
Thomas Cranmer: Thames Water on the brink of collapse sends warning of Three Waters debt risk
Kate McVicar (NBR): Ports of Auckland privatisation bad for economy: report (paywalled)
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Nobby Clark must ban use of ‘Nobby Clark’
Ben Tomsett (ODT): Te reo building names shouldn’t be ‘metaphorical’ (paywalled)
RNZ: Iwi upset at Invercargill mayor’s push for non-metaphorical te reo
Sue Teodoro (Local Democracy Reporting): South Wairarapa rates up almost 20 percent
Jill Herron (Newsroom): Central Otago rates cloud has silver lining
Alecia Rousseau (Manawatū Standard): Dannevirke’s dam will need to be drained this summer – ratepayers say it’s a ‘dead duck’
CO-GOVERNANCE
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Normalising the outrageous: On hearing what makes a Māori ‘good’
Julie Asher (ODT): Co-Governance meeting left mayor ‘ill’
EXTREME WEATHER, CIVIL DEFENCE
RNZ: Cyclone-hit property buyout negotiations likely continuing into next month – Robertson
RNZ: More than 350 cyclone-hit property owners in Hawke’s Bay told they can rebuild
Tom Taylor (RNZ): Some in Muriwai still living in campgrounds months after cyclone
RNZ: Auditor-General adds voice to calls for Auckland Council to beef up emergency response plans
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Auckland emergency management found wanting (paywalled)
ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING, INEQUALITY
Peter Dunne: “It’s (still) the economy, stupid”
RNZ: Rising job numbers show solid growth, economist says
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The Government don’t understand basic economics
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): The danger of making poverty a ‘Māori’ or ‘Pacifica’ thing is that it masks the huge number of white people in poverty
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Cost of living: Newshub test reveals which major supermarket has the cheapest groceries
BUSINESS
Rob Stock (Stuff): Rising threat of bad loans pushes bank profits down for first time in almost two years
RNZ: Bank profits fall to lowest level in 18 months
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Banks’ preparations for tough times could dampen profits (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): NZ bank margins stay high as recession bites (paywalled)
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): Bank profits slump in March quarter; late payments rise: KPMG (paywalled)
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Kiwi investment in planet-damaging fossil fuels nearly doubles
RNZ: Warning as KiwiSaver, retail investors back oil and gas projects
RNZ: Commerce Commission amends TAB’s authorisation to include Entain
BusinessDesk: TAB’s Entain deal jumps regulatory hurdle (paywalled)
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): By the numbers: All the NZ Post price changes coming on July 1
Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): Matariki not a time for businesses to have sales and ‘shift alcohol’, experts say
HEALTH
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Third of patients waiting more than four months for specialist appointment
Hanna McCallum (Post): Community ‘really angry’ new vape store less than 300m from Wellington schools (paywalled)
Fiona Ellis (ODT): Govt dodging blame for cutting learning centre, MP says (paywalled)
Tamara Poi-Ngawhika (BusinessDesk): New health chair says equity is at the heart of the system’s legislation
John Braddock, Tom Peters (World Socialists): New Zealand factors ethnicity in prioritising surgery waiting lists
JAMES WALLACE
Sam Hurley (Herald): Sir James Wallace unmasked: The inside story of a rich-lister, arts philanthropist and criminal (paywalled)
Emma Stanford (RNZ): Arts community relieved Sir James Wallace has been publicly named
Derek Cheng , Sam Hurley and Bernard Orsman (Herald): Government moves to strip Sir James Wallace of knighthood
Sam Hurley (Herald): Sir James Wallace named as former rich-lister convicted of indecently assaulting three men and attempting to pervert the course of justice
1News: Sir James Wallace victim calls for speedy removal of knighthood
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Prominent businessman convicted of abusing three men can now be named
Molly Swift and Janika ter Ellen (Newshub): Sir James Wallace named as prominent businessman guilty of indecently assaulting young men
RNZ: Sir James Wallace revealed as ‘prominent businessman’ convicted of indecent assault
OTHER
Brent Edwards (NBR): Using nostalgia to attract votes (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On China, University Funding, Ukraine
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Cabinet Office apologised to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins over Michael Wood’s airport shares
Liam Hehir (Plain Sight): The unbearable smugness of being TOP
Adam Young (Plain Sight): The rich, the marginalised, and the right to dissent
Charlotte Graham-McLay (Guardian): Chaos at New Zealand feral cat hunting contest as video of children chanting with dead animals emerges
Patrick Gower (Newshub): Transgender ‘debate’ has become an ugly, toxic shouting match
Max Frethey (RNZ): Gang list surge not proof of increased membership – police
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): New-look TVNZ board, few changes at RNZ (paywalled)
Herald: NZME promotes NZ Herald editor Murray Kirkness to chief content officer – publishing
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Woman says Oranga Tamariki staff member ‘inappropriately’ touched her when in care
Stuff: Charges against former Lake Alice nurse, 91, stopped due to ill health
Joris de Bres (Stuff): The highs and lows of World Refugee Day in Aotearoa
Karanama Ruru (Stuff): Original Māori names restored and others adopted for ten west Auckland parks
Glenn McConnell (Post): Opera star hits out at ‘racist’ Government, calls mātauranga Māori ‘fake’ (paywalled)
Barry Soutar (NBR): ‘Mānuka’ and a discussion on language misappropriation (paywalled)
Lianne Dalziel (Newsroom): Govt’s reforming zeal must loosen grip on under-rated communities
John Lewis (ODT): Car rolls down hill into office
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): MP’s office smashed in unintentional ramraid
